The single Greek seafarer on board a suezmax seized by Iran in open sea a week ago has been released and is on his way home.
The cadet officer and youngest crew member of the 158,600-dwt St Nikolas (ex-Suez Rajan, built 2011) is already on a flight to Greece, escorted by the country’s ambassador to Iran, the ship’s owner, Empire Navigation, said in an update on Thursday.
“Regardless of this positive news, our company remains committed to the safe release of all crew members,” Athens-based Empire said.
Eighteen Filipino seafarers remain in Iranian custody on board the vessel at Bandar Abbas.
The Filipino ambassador to Iran will be visiting the suezmax soon, while diplomats “continue their ongoing efforts … to negotiate the safe return of the remaining crew members”, Empire said.
Armed Iranian forces boarded the St Nikolas by helicopter early on 11 January as it was underway off Oman. The move was in reprisal for Empire’s cooperation with US action last year to seize Iranian oil the ship was carrying.
After an initial few days in which the St Nikolas was incommunicado, radio contact with the ship was re-established.
Iran often seizes vessels in tit-for-tat measures against foreign governments or commercial parties it is in dispute with.
Past experience suggests that seafarers held in Iran as collateral damage in such disputes can hope to be freed eventually, even if their vessels remain stuck there.
Tehran usually agrees after some weeks or months to release crews after vessel managers send other seafarers willing to replace them.
That happened in the case of the 157,400-dwt Delta Poseidon (built 2011) and 150,000-dwt Prudent Warrior (built 2017) — well before Iran released the two tankers after six months of capture.
TradeWinds understands that crew exchanges also took place on Advantage Tankers’ 159,100-dwt Advantage Sweet (built 2012), a suezmax that is still in Iranian custody.
